Arriva London launches its Payroll Giving 2017 campaign

Every year, Arriva London’s staff show their incredible generosity by supporting over 160 charities each and every pay day through the company’s Payroll Giving scheme. The scheme, which encourages staff to easily give to any charity they choose through their payroll for as little as £1 a week, is also tax efficient for both the employee and the charities.

2017 is, like the previous five years, no exception with Arriva London launching a new campaign to promote Payroll Giving to those staff who haven’t signed up yet. The whole scheme is completely voluntary and open to all employees. Thus far, over 20% of the staff give in this way, resulting in Arriva London being awarded the Platinum Quality Mark for achieving that milestone, but we would like to encourage more to maintain that status, if not move on to the newly created Diamond Quality Mark, awarded when 30% of staff give to charity via their payroll.

The campaign theme again is ‘It’s easy to give with Payroll Giving, your colleagues do it every day’, which will be promoted through weekly road shows at each of the company’s seventeen London garages, together with a poster and video campaign, which tells givers’ stories.

Payroll Givers' stories like Rafiu, who has been affected by cancer himself, says:

"I support Prostate Cancer UK: it has affected me and I have been cured 100%. Over 10,000 men die every year in the UK from prostate cancer, so I will support the charity each and every time."

And Claudia, a bus driver at our Brixton garage, who explains:

"I chose Great Ormond Street Hospital as I love kids. I have kids of my own and I wouldn't want them to be affected in this way. I love to help them."

Also George, another one of our drivers, who supports the children's charity CLIC Sargent:

"The trouble these children are going through really touches me. It’s always better to give than receive, that’s my policy."

All participants in the scheme are also entered into a company quarterly draw, which gives four winners each a cheque from Arriva London for £250 for their chosen charity.

All Payroll Givers are also entered into a ballot, which gives them the chance to be one of forty participants in Arriva London’s 2017 Lord Mayor’s Show entry on November 11th.

The beauty of the scheme is that the staff can choose exactly who they give to, and how much they give, and with such a diverse workforce it means that over 160 charities benefit, from well-known national or international ones to very local causes.

This year’s Lord Mayor’s Show, on 11th November, was an amazing cause for celebration, not only to welcome in the new Lord Mayor, but also to celebrate another year of Platinum giving by our wonderfully generous Payroll Givers.

Preparations are complete for our display entry in this year’s Lord Mayor’s Show on Saturday. The Arriva London theme again this year is to celebrate the enormous contribution our staff make to charities through the Payroll Giving scheme. With over 1,000 staff supporting over 160 charities every week, and over £1,000,000 having been given in the last five years.

The buses, which were recently on display on the South Bank opposite the Houses of Parliament, will be seen throughout London and the City until November 12th, as a mark of respect for the sacrifices made by London’s service men and women, past and present.